It Sent You To Me Without Wings
by WinterSky101
Summary: One of the Flock is injured, and Max finds herself trusting the Avengers in a way she never thought she would. Second in "To Dust Or To Gold."


**Ooh, look, a sequel that _didn't_ take nearly six months to post! Enjoy!**

**Title is from "Thnks fr th Mmrs" by Fall Out Boy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride or Avengers.**

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The bullet punched through Iggy's shoulder as if it were made of paper.

"Iggy!" Max screamed as he began to plummet, blood soaking his shirt and wing. But, to her amazement, he began to regain altitude again a moment later, although his flying seemed much more labored than usual. The bullet, it seemed, had barely clipped his wing, but it had gone straight through his shoulder, where most of the muscles were for flying. His face was twisted in pain, but he remained in the air.

"Iggy's been shot!" Max yelled through the comm system she only half understood how to use. "What do we do?"

_"We need to get him somewhere sheltered,"_ Steve replied, sounding as controlled as always. _"Anyone have any ideas?"_

_"Bring the kid to me,"_ Clint replied. Max looked over at him, perched on a rooftop and shooting arrows at the Flyboy-rejects that they were fighting. _"There aren't many robots getting up here, and I'm the most removed from the fighting. I'll keep an eye on him."_

_"Max, did you hear that?"_ Steve demanded. Max nodded, belatedly remembering that they couldn't see her.

"Yeah. I'm bringing him over now." Without wasting a second, Max flew to Iggy's side.

"Where can I land?" Iggy asked, his face tight with pain. "I don't think I can fly for much longer."

"We've got it all figured out," Max replied, taking Iggy's hand. "Come on." Careful to keep their wings from hitting each other, Max flew Iggy over to the rooftop on which Clint was stationed. "You're staying with Cl- Hawkeye." While in costume, the Avengers insisted they were to be referred to by code name. There had been some talk of getting costumes for the Flock, although none of them was very enthused at the idea of code names; after this, Max was definitely going to push for costumes made of Kevlar.

"Take this," Clint added, tossing a little bundle to Max, who handed it to Iggy. As she took a closer look, she realized the bundle was actually the t-shirt Clint had been wearing before he'd changed into his costume. "Press it against your shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. Did the bullet go all the way through?"

"Yeah," Iggy replied in a clipped tone. Clint just nodded in response.

"Is that good or bad?" Max demanded. Clint shrugged.

"Means we don't have to dig the bullet out, but also means there's a wound in the front and back. But given how fast the files say you heal, that might be better. We wouldn't want the wound to start closing up before we could get in there." Max nodded, unwilling to leave even though she knew Clint would take care of Iggy. He seemed to notice. "Go back to fighting," he urged as he shot another arrow. "Iggy and I will be fine." Max placed a hand on Iggy's uninjured shoulder. He put his hand over it and squeezed gently, then Max took off.

"Is Iggy gonna be okay?" Gazzy shouted over the fighting.

"He'll be fine," Max replied, although she had no way of knowing if she told the truth or not. "Now come on. The faster we finish this battle, the faster we'll be able to get back to him."

Within the next half hour, the battle was over, with the Avengers and the Flock triumphant. The second the fight was over, Max flew to the rooftop where she had left Iggy, followed by the rest of the Flock. Iggy looked better than he had when she left him - despite the fact that he must have been continuing to lose blood, he also seemed to have begun healing. Tony and Thor seemed to be giving the other Avengers rides up to the rooftop. Bruce, despite looking as exhausted as he usually did after a transformation, crossed to Iggy's side.

"Can I look at the wound?" he asked, speaking to both Max and Iggy. "I have some medical training. I'm normally in charge patching everyone up before we get to more qualified doctors." Max didn't mention that she had no intention of going to the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors for help - they wore lab coats, and she didn't think she could handle watching a group of people in lab coats surrounding Iggy without freaking out. Her first instinct was to feel the same way about Bruce treating him - she didn't really know any of the Avengers well enough to trust them that much, especially with Iggy wounded. Situations like this never ended well in the past, so Max freely admitted she was probably being a bit paranoid.

But Iggy nodded before she could say anything, giving Bruce his permission. When Bruce shot her a glance, Max nodded once, jerkily, as well.

_It's okay,_ Angel told her mentally. _Bruce is nice. He's not going to do anything to Iggy. He really wants to help._

Max sighed slightly. _I know. I'm just paranoid._

_Paranoia is only good when you control it, not the other way around,_ another voice popped in. The Voice, actually.

_Thanks for reading me fortune cookie fortunes again,_ Max quipped in response.

_Don't let paranoia keep you from trusting people you should trust,_ the Voice replied, ignoring her completely. Max sighed. For once (okay, not once, but she didn't like to admit it), the Voice made sense. The Avengers really did want to help, and they'd only done things that ought to increase Max's trust in them.

Bruce was gentle and quick in his ministrations. He swayed as he stood, but Tony was there immediately, bracing him to keep him upright. "Thank you," Max told him quietly. Bruce nodded, his eyelids drooping slightly. How could Max have ever even thought of mistrusting him? He was almost literally asleep on his feet, and he had still put helping Iggy before taking care of himself.

_Exactly,_ the Voice murmured smugly. _You need to trust people, Max. Not everyone is out to get you._

_A lot of people are,_ Max shot back.

_And the Avengers are not part of that group,_ the Voice countered. _They don't want to hurt you. All they want to do is help._

"I can fly Iggy down to the car," Tony offered. "I'm sure I could carry him more easily than you could."

"Thanks," Max replied, resolved to watch Tony like a hawk and go in the car with Iggy. Just in case.

_Angel, tell the others to fly back with Tony and Thor,_ Max thought loudly._ I'm going in the car._

_You don't have to worry about him,_ Angel replied. _The Avengers won't hurt him._

_I just don't want to leave him,_ Max replied honestly. She could feel Angel's understanding, then her presence was gone from her mind.

The ride back to Stark Tower was completely uneventful, as Max knew it would most likely be. "Do you want me to call the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors?" Steve asked. Max shook her head.

"I'd rather not involve them," she replied, hoping Steve would understand. "I don't entirely trust them."

"I'm sure Bruce will be willing to take another look at Iggy's wound after he gets some sleep," Steve replied. Max smiled at him, glad he hadn't tried to convince her into changing her mind.

"Sounds good," she replied, helping Iggy out of the car and slinging his good arm over her shoulders. The bandages that Bruce had put in place were holding nicely and Iggy didn't seem to have lost too much blood.

"I can feel you staring at me," he declared. "Come on, let's move. I'm starving."

Max laughed - only Iggy could worry about food when he had been shot through the shoulder - and helped him into the elevator and up to the kitchen. He hadn't been kidding about being hungry - Max swore he ate half the refrigerator. She insisted on taking him to bed after, although he didn't like the idea.

"I'm fine!" he protested as she half-dragged him to his bedroom. "It's not that bad."

"I've been shot too, remember?" Max retorted. "I know how much it hurts. Now, you're going to get in your bed and rest, whether you want to or not."

"Knowing you, you'll get someone to sit on me if I try to leave," Iggy grumbled. Max laughed.

"You're the only one who does that, Ig." Iggy shrugged with his good arm, as if to say _close enough_.

Natasha stopped them on the way to Iggy's room, holding out a sling and pressing it into his hand. "Thought this might help," she stated. "I know you heal fast, but you should still be careful."

"Thanks," Iggy replied. Max just gave Natasha a nod. Of all the Avengers, she felt that Natasha was perhaps the one who understood them the most - she was as slow to trust as they were, which was saying something. But Max had been working on trusting her, and it seemed she had been working on trusting them as well.

Natasha even went so far as to help Iggy put his arm in the sling before disappearing off somewhere. "Alright, off to bed with you," Max declared once she was gone.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiine," Iggy replied, dragging the word out to approximately a billion times its actual length. Max rolled her eyes as they went back to his room.

Iggy was safe, and in part, it was thanks to the Avengers. Max thought that maybe - _maybe_ \- she had reached the point where she could actually trust them.

If she kept an eagle's eye on Iggy until he was fully healed (hint: she did), no one mentioned it.


End file.
